Dirty Sanchez star stabbed in shop

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One of the stars of anarchic TV series Dirty Sanchez was recovering today after being stabbed in the neck.

Matthew Pritchard was with his girlfriend when he intervened in a row in a shop yesterday.

The 36-year-old, who found fame for his painful stunts in the mad-cap MTV series, was taken to hospital by ambulance and later discharged after a stab wound under his chin was stitched.

Police have arrested a man for the attack.

Pritchard, of Cardiff, told the South Wales Echo: "It was a close call. I almost died. It's unbelievable but I'm so lucky.

"He was having a go at the staff and saying: 'I've been in prison for two years, what are you asking me for ID for?'

"He was getting really out of hand and by this time I was fuming because there were kids in the shop and it's not right.

"He was effing and blinding. It was disgusting. I said 'don't you speak to women and children like that' and pushed him out.

"He saw me coming towards him and I saw him get this knife out and he slashed me down the neck."

Staff at the shop in Dereham, near Norwich, gave him a towel to stop the bleeding.

"I thought I was about to go to sleep at any point. I was telling my missus to tell my mum I love her," he said.

Writing on his Twitter feed, Pritchard thanked the "amazing" doctors, nurses and ambulance staff who helped him.

A spokesman for Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital said: "It would seem he tried to intervene in a shop. The man in question turned round and slashed him with some kind of Stanley knife.

"He's lucky that it didn't cause any serious damage."

A Norfolk Constabulary spokeswoman said: "Police were called to the Budgens store at Toftwood, Dereham, at 4.55pm, to reports of an assault outside which had followed an altercation between two men at the Post Office counter inside.

"There officers found a 36-year-old man who had sustained wounds to the neck and chest.

"He was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital for treatment and later discharged.

"A local man in his 30s was arrested by officers a short time later at his home in the Dereham area. He remains in police custody at this time."